BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WESTERN HISTORICAL ROMANCE!
Caroline Clemmons writes historical and contemporary genre fiction. Historical romances, contemporary romantic suspense, mysteries, and paranormals are among her current works. Learn more about her at www.carolineclemmons.com

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I suspect each of you do also. No matter how perilous life seems at times, we are much better off than many others. Our daughters will be joining us to celebrate a traditional dinner with turkey, cornbread dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, spinach souffle, asparagus casserole, and pecan pie with ice cream for dessert. Oh, dear, I think I gained weight just writing the menu. Hero is preparing dinner, except for the pie which Darling Daughter 2 is bringing. I'm bringing my appetite. ☺ DD2 is gluten free and vegetarian, and DD1 has allergies. Both are allergic to sweet potatoes in case you wondered why they aren't on the menu. I'm allergic to pumpkin. For years I cooked with those things in mind but now I've turned the kitchen over to Hero. He takes all that into consideration when he plans the meal. Impossible to have every dish suit every person, but he does an amazing job. The gravy and dressing are made with vegetable stock, so our vegetarian can eat it.

Are you one of those brave souls entering the Black Friday crush? Darling Daughter 2 and I will be plotting our shopping strategy. We will venture out and bravely wend our way through throngs to get the gift for which Hero had dropped hints. Hints? They would have broken my foot if they had landed there. ☺

We won't forget to give thanks for all the blessings that have come our way this year.

Thanks to those of you who have read my books, told friends about them, and have left reviews. You are the best! I am so lucky to be doing what I love day after day.

Me doing what I love

In the meantime, here are my literary accomplishments this year:(hint, hint) Books make lovely gifts and can save all that weaving through crowds.

Just order online from Amazon for print and ebook and from Smashwords and others for ebooks. The print book will arrive in your mail box and you don't have to spend gasoline, time, and energy. You'll please the recipient while you save yourself all that bother.

BLUEBONNET BRIDE has proven one of my most popular books and stayed in Amazon's top 100 western romances for many weeks. It's the third in my Men of Stone Mountain series. My friend Nelda Liles generously gave me the bluebonnet photo from shots she took at the Ennis Bluebonnet Trail. The woman's photos is from iStock and Hero combined the two.

TABITHA'S JOURNEY is a novella I enjoyed writing and received excellent reviews. It's the first novella I've written in a few years, and is a spin off of the Men of Stone Mountain series. Many readers enjoy a shorter read. Do you think the girl on the cover looks as if she's a proper Boston beauty who traveled west? She's a mail-order bride. I've always wanted to write a mail-order bride story, and this one has a twist.

Frankly, I like writing longer books so I can include more devious machinations. I like lots of mayhem and murder in my books, don't you? Oh yes, and always a happy ending.

For the first time I bundled three books into a boxed set at a reduced cost to the reader in the MEN OF STONE MOUNTAIN set. This set contains two award winning books, BRAZOS BRIDE and HIGH STAKES BRIDE..

THE MOST UNSUITABLE COURTSHIP received excellent reviews and I'm still promoting it. If you haven't read this third book in the Kincaid series, please do so now. The hero of this story is Storm Kincaid, younger half brother of the sisters in the first two books. The heroine is a bit different, as she is from Bavaria and has just learned English. This cover is by Kim Killion.

At www.audible.com, BRAZOS BRIDE, narrated by Valerie Gilbert, is available. It's also available from Amazon. I love the way Valerie has brought the story to life. This is the first time I've had an audio book. I'll be telling you more about that with an audiosample next week. As I mentioned above, this is an award winning book.

Eight friends and I also bundled a boxed set of our books titled NINE WAYS TO FALL IN LOVE. We had so much fun with a month long launch party and met some wonderful readers.

Thanksgiving turkey in Stetson courtesy of Lyn Horner

On a personal note, I'm thankful we moved into a snug little home near many of my friends and near stores and restaurants and everything we need. I love our house and location. Now, if I could just get everything unpacked and in its place, I'll be even more thankful.

Our current home is an hour closer to Darling Daughter 1 and thirty minutes closer to Darling Daughter 2, so we see both of them more often. Another reason to be thankful!

I hope recalling your year brings smiles to your face and happiness to your heart. I wish you a bountiful year to come.